WHY THE PRESIDENT CAN`T FIND GOOD HELP

George E. Curry, Chicago TribuneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Many top-flight individuals turn down presidential appointments because of poor working conditions and low salaries, and some who do accept the nominations become victims ''of extortion'' during the Senate confirmation process, according to a report released Monday.

In addition, those who have accepted employment are leaving at an increasing rate because of ''petty aggravations'' associated with being a federal employee, said the report, ''Leadership in Jeopardy: The Fraying of the Presidential Appointments Systems.''

The two-year study covered the last five administrations and was conducted by the National Academy of Public Administration, a nonpartisan organization chartered by Congress.

Because of low executive salaries, public financial disclosure requirements and increased media scrutiny, recruitment of presidential appointments often goes to the second or third choice, the report said.

The median length of service for presidential appointees for the last two decades has been slightly more than two years, the report found. Only 32 percent have stayed for as long as three years.

A government that exceeds those of all other nations in its reliance on non-career personnel as managers ''will not deliver fully on its promise,''

the report said.

The system also faces the problem of expanding at such a rapid rate that

''the capacity no longer exists--in the White House or in the Senate--to find and assess with care the qualifications of the large number of people now needed to fill all appointed positions.''

It said the Senate confirmation process, which takes twice as long as it did under the Lyndon Johnson administration, gets bogged down by senators who place a hold on nominations in order to extract a favor from the White House or the nominee. Traditionally, individual senators have been allowed to put a hold on an appointee`s confirmation in order to further examine his qualifications.

''In most recent cases, however, holds by individual senators have been used for the purposes of extortion,'' the report said. ''A senator may place a hold on a nomination in order to force some information or concession from the nominee personally or from the administration.''

Because of this abuse of the holding privilege, the process ''has trespassed beyond healthy tradition into the realm of public nuisance,''

according to the report.

Once confirmed, 79 percent of past and present appointees surveyed said they received no job orientation and most said they felt isolated from the White House staff and senior career officers in their respective departments. Moreover, many complained of being forced to absorb normal and legitimate business expenses in connection with the performance of their jobs.

The report quoted a former assistant secretary of state as saying, ''My per diem in New York was $50 a day and the cheapest hotel that the department could find that was anywhere near where I had to work was $49.50, given government reduction, which left me with 50 cents a day for meals, taxi fares and things like that. It`s ridiculous.''

The study`s recommendations included the following:

-- Reduce the number of political appointments, and turn over some jobs to senior career executives.

-- Limit to five days the Senate`s practice of permitting individual senators to place a hold on a presidential nomination.

-- Reimburse an appointee`s job-related expenses at full value.

-- Give people who remain in Senate-confirmed jobs for more than three years an annual bonus equivalent to 10 percent of their salary.

-- Simplify the government`s financial disclosure form.

-- Ban solicitation or discussion of future employment in the private sector during service.

-- Streamline FBI investigations, which are a major cause of confirmation delays.